May 19

”But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” James 2:20

Ah, there it is – faith without works is dead, or perhaps better put, nothing. My faith in the program can be without fault, but without action taken to prove it means little. My thoughts of being better, of changing my ways, are a great start, but I need to take steps to show that I am behaving differently. In the program this is often the walking the walk part (and not simply just talking the talk.) My Higher Power, through grace, prayer and meditation, continues to bestow wisdom upon me. If I am simply a sponge and absorb this knowledge, but do nothing with it, the gift is wasted. When I take this wisdom and put it to use, when it works to change my ways or finds its way onto these pages, then I have made it a part of my life and HIS-story. It has become me working His will and taking His guidance. I’ve been quite foolish in my life. I have believed in many things yet done nothing to show what I believed. I have also believed in many of the wrong things, and done too much to show that I had those poor beliefs. Thinking about faith still brings to mind a poster I saw many years ago, with a kitten hanging from a tree branch over a river with the caption “Faith isn’t faith until it’s all you’re holding on to.” I used think that was the only definition, but it’s not. Faith for me is a regular part of my day, the confidence that my Higher Power is steering me in the right direction at all times, not just when I feel I am out on a limb.

Affirmation

There’s a reason I need to “work” my program. Concrete steps are required to show that things are moving in a different and better direction.